It's All Good: Who needs seating when you've got the sauce?

Aug. 22, 2010

Written by

News Journal

Hours: 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, April through November.

Contact: 419-610-7122 or 419-524-7427.

The goods: Ribs, chicken and sandwiches, all smothered in Ronald Moton Sr.'s award-winning barbecue sauce, plus side orders such as cole slaw and potato salad.

Worth noting: Catering is available. According to the menu, "The King of B-B-Q Ribs specializes in full-service catering for weddings, picnics, family reunions, birthday parties, retirement parties and more." Call to order.

Ronald Moton Sr. has been "The King of Ribs" since the mid-1980s, and he has the references to back up his claim.

Three years running, he has earned the Golden Pig award for best sauce at the Carolina Mountain Ribfest in Asheville, N.C.

From a cherry-wood-fueled grill and tent on Lexington Avenue, he serves up pork, beef and chicken slathered in the signature sauce he's rightfully proud of.

"We don't use what you call a rub," Moton said. "A rub is only good for the topping of the meat. ... All I want is something plain. I want the salt to melt into the meat and make it taste good."

I arrived a little before the King's ribs were tenderized quite to his standards, but they were cooked through, so he cut me one to sample.

His "red gold" is mild, balanced and subtly sweet and sour, with a certain something that eludes me.

There's a distinctive flavor in there I recognize, but I can't put my finger on it. The flavors are so delicate and blended, the meat really shines through.

Moton said the recipe was reverse-engineered from the sauce his mother made long ago when she worked at the Blue Note in Mansfield.

"She forgot the recipe after she got older," he said. "She and I sat down one day and drawed up some of the things that go in the sauce. We came up with 21 different spices. Now I've got that down to only about nine."

By some miracle, he simplified the recipe, made it more pure, and managed to retain its amazing depth.

After sampling the ribs, I had a decision to make for my order. Purely in the interest of thorough scientific research, I thought I should try something else.

Perhaps a sandwich. Pulled pork? Beef brisket?

Pork? Beef?

Aw, heck. Both!

And let me tell you, the sauce is great on the ribs, but coating all the little bits of fork-tender shredded meat, it really gets a starring role.

I had planned to eat half of each sandwich, then save the rest for dinner, but I was back in the fridge finishing the leftovers within an hour.

Moton spends much of the summer trucking his signature flavors to competitions all over the country, but he's never considered leaving Mansfield. His parents moved his family here in 1960, when he was 11.

"This is where all my family is," he said.

He has 10 brothers and sisters, three children and six grandchildren.

"And the grandkids are even better than cooking the ribs," he said, beaming.

Melissa Ramaley is a copy editor and page designer for the News Journal. To invite her to your favorite restaurant, e-mail mramaley@gannett.com with "It's All Good" in the subject line, or call 419-521-7231. Find an archive of restaurant profiles at MansfieldNewsJournal.com/entertainment.